Microsoft Ads conversion tracking for PPC agencies

Specific to Microsoft × PPC agencies

Microsoft Ads for agencies: rebuild what the Google import skipped

For a PPC agency, Microsoft Ads tracking means a UET tag on every client site, conversion goals reviewed rather than inherited from the Google import, and msclkid captured next to gclid. Qualified leads and offline sales then go back through Microsoft's offline conversion import from the client's CRM, with the counting setting checked on every goal.

Microsoft · PPC agencies · architecture

How Microsoft and PPC agencies actually connect

1. 1

   The conversion in PPC agencies

   Per account: which action bidding optimizes on, what it counts, where its truth lives, and what its attribution window is. Those four facts explain most bidding behaviour that looks inexplicable.

2. 2

   Microsoft Ads needs a click to match

   msclkid inside the import window, a conversion goal name matching one in the account, a timestamp and a value.

3. 3

   The identifier: msclkid

   Microsoft's click identifier, appended when auto-tagging is enabled. It depends on the UET tag being present on the site — without UET, msclkid arrives in the URL and there's nothing consuming it, which is a common half-configured state on accounts imported from Google.

4. 4

   Where it gets sent from

   the client's own order or CRM records.

5. 5

   Deduplication and window

   The same counting question applies: one conversion per click for lead-type goals, every conversion for ecommerce. Accounts imported from Google frequently carry over the goal structure and not the counting review, so it's worth reading every goal rather than assuming the import got it right. Check Microsoft's current offline import window and attribution settings directly. They resemble Google's closely enough to be assumed and differ enough to matter.